Finally, he tied all four of the ties but the one near his neck and then slipped the thing over his head like a shirt. That done, he managed to tie the last one without too much trouble. He was pulling booties over his shoes when a nurse arrived.

“Need me to . . . ?” She stopped and stared at the gown. “I see you’ve already got it done. We’re ready for you to join us. She’s been given an epidural, and it’ll only be a few minutes before we begin. By the way, how did you get that thing tied?”

“Tied it first and then put it on,” he answered as he followed her out of the room.

“You must work well under pressure,” she said. “Most fathers are so nervous they can’t even figure out the part about it tying in the back.”

“My heart is racing, and my stomach is tied in knots,” he said.

“Well, you’d never know it. You stay behind this screen. Your job is to hold your wife’s hand and keep her calm,” she said.

“I’ll do the first and give the second my best shot.” He bent to kiss Ginger on the forehead and took her hand in his. Holding her hand wouldn’t be a tough job. He was already doing that. But keeping her calm might be harder, especially when he was more nervous than he’d ever been in his life—even when he dismantled bombs.

The nurse disappeared, and Ginger giggled. “Love your new hat. It’s a little lighter shade, but it matches your eyes. I think I fell in love with your eyes even before I fell in love with you. I never believed in all that hogwash about love at first sight until . . .” She frowned. “I can’t feel my legs.”

“Is that normal?” Sloan asked the nurse closest to him.

Dr. Emerson chuckled. “That’s exactly what we want. Ginger, you will feel a little pressure.”

Her eyes popped wide open and locked with Sloan’s. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Should he believe what she had said about falling in love with him? Or was it nothing more than the ramblings of a person under the influence of drugs and stress? Hopefully, she had meant what she told him and would put his name on the birth certificate.

“I told you it was a big one.” Doc’s voice came through the screen.

A baby’s healthy screams followed right after his statement.

Ginger’s big brown eyes opened again and tears flowed down her cheeks. “Sloan, do something. They’re hurting our baby. Give her to me.”

“Eight pounds, four ounces,” the nurse said. “Twenty inches long. Look at all this black hair.”

“I guess she got something from me.” Sloan smiled down at Ginger.

“Of course she did.” Ginger yawned. “You’re her father. Just look at the birth certificate. When can I see her?”

“We’ll get her cleaned up and lay her on your chest in a few minutes,” Doc answered.

“We did it, Sloan,” Ginger said. “Even though I did a stupid thing, we got through it together.”

“We sure did,” he said. “And, darlin’, we’ll get through whatever the universe throws at us in the future. As long as we’ve got each other, we’ll jump every single hurdle. I promise not to try to boss you anymore.”

“I will try to not be so bullheaded,” she told him.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Doc said from the other side of the curtain. “Now, go on out to the waiting room and tell the Banty House girls the news. They’ll be nervous as old mama hens in a room full of coyotes. We’ll have Ginger settled into a recovery room in a few minutes. There’s only supposed to be two at a time until she’s in a room in the maternity wing, but I’m going to bend the rules.”

A nurse came from around the screen with the new baby in her arms. “Time for skin to skin. You ready to hold your daughter, Ginger?”

“Oh, Sloan, look at all her dark hair. She looks like you,” she said as she opened her arms.

In that moment, he wanted to be the father, not just on paper but for real.

The nurse unsnapped one side of Ginger’s hospital gown and laid the baby next to the new mother’s bare skin. Then she covered them both with a soft, warm blanket. “I’ll stay with her until we get her into a room,” the nurse told him, “and then you can be there in case she gets tired.”

“Thank you.” Sloan touched the baby’s face and fell in love with her that very instant. “God almighty! She’s beautiful, Ginger.”

“Tell them everything went perfectly. A nurse will come get you soon.”

Sloan bent to kiss Ginger on the cheek. “I’ll only be away from you a few minutes.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, “for everything.”

“Rightbackatcha.” He felt like he was walking on air as he headed for the waiting room. The three sisters were the only ones there, and they all met him halfway across the room.

“Sweet Jesus! We’ve been in here for hours,” Betsy said.

“It’s only been thirty minutes,” Kate argued.

“Well, it seemed like an eternity. Is she all right? Is the baby here? Is anything wrong? Please tell us that it all went well.” Connie finally stopped for a breath.

“Ginger is holding the baby right now. Doc was right about it being a big baby. She weighed over eight pounds and is twenty inches long, and she’s got a lot of black hair.” He removed the cap from his head and ran his fingers through his own dark hair.

Betsy sank into a chair and let out a whoosh of air. “Are you sure Ginger is going to be all right?”

“Doc Emerson says it went well.” Sloan sat down beside Betsy and draped his arm around her shoulder. “I promise I won’t leave her side until Doc says she’s able to do whatever she wants.”

Betsy patted his hand. “I’m holdin’ you to that. If you have to go anywhere, you call us and one or all of us will come and stay with her.”

“When can we see her?” Kate asked.

“As soon as they get her into a recovery room,” Sloan answered.

“I call dibs on going in first,” Connie said.

“Doc says he’ll bend the rules so we can all go in, and then, when she’s in the maternity wing, we can all stay as long as we want. But I’ll be staying in the room with her until I take her home,” Sloan answered.

“You are a good man, Sloan,” Kate said.

Ginger peeled back the blanket and counted Martha Belle’s toes and fingers. Then she covered her back up and said, “I wonder if my mother had a bonding time with me like this.”

The nurse turned from checking her vital signs and said, “Were you talking to me?”

“No, ma’am,” Ginger said.

“Do you feel like you’re drifting off to sleep?” the nurse asked.

Ginger shook her head. “I want to stay awake forever. I don’t want to miss a single thing that happens in her life.”

The nurse giggled. “Girl, I’ve got four kids, and believe me, you will want to sleep. Matter of fact, you may decide you love to sleep more than you love chocolate.”

But I won’t love it more than I love Sloan, she thought, and then sucked in a lungful of air. Had she really told him that during the birth? She drew her eyes down until her brows were a solid line. Maybe I was just thinking it. Everything is a little bit of a blur.

The door opened and Sloan ushered the ladies into the small room. They tiptoed close to the bed in their white dresses, and all three of them had big smiles on their faces. Betsy was the first to reach the bed, and tears welled up in her eyes as she looked down at the baby. “She looks like Kate’s baby pictures.”

“How can you say that?” Connie asked. “We all looked just alike at birth. If Mama hadn’t put names on the back of the pictures, we wouldn’t know which of us was which.”

“I think she looks exactly like Martha Belle Baker,” Sloan said.

Kate smiled and nodded. “That’s a good solid name. I’m going to teach her to make moonshine when she’s old enough.”

“And you’re not going to teach her to grow pot.” Connie shook a finger at Betsy.

“Okay, ladies, time to go.” Doc Emerson broke up the impending argument when he came into the room. “We should have her in a room within the hour. Why don’t y’all go on home or get something to eat?”

“I would like to get out of this dress, but how can we leave this baby?” Betsy asked.

“She’s not going anywhere,” Ginger said. “Would you bring me some of those cookies we made when you come back? I’m starving.”

“Not yet,” Doc said. “First you’ll get some liquids—broth, juice, and Jell-O—then at supper you can have some light food. Tomorrow you can get back on a regular diet. You just had surgery, young lady. You need to take it slow.” He motioned for the ladies to leave the room.

“Thank God I’m living in your house,” she said when she and Sloan were alone. “I love them all, but they would smother me.”

“Honey,” he chuckled. “It don’t matter where we live; it’s going to happen.”

“My arms are so tired,” she said. “I hate to ask, but just for five minutes . . .”

Sloan ripped the robe he was still wearing right down the front, unbuttoned his shirt, and took the baby into his arms. When he laid Martha Belle against his chest, she looked up at him with soul-searching eyes, as if she were studying his face.

“Hello, punkin,” Sloan said. “Welcome to the Baker family.”

“We may be a strange family, but we are one, aren’t we?” Ginger said.

“Yes, darlin’, we are.” Sloan nodded.

Chapter Twenty-Three